VETERAN NIGERIAN MUSICIAN, KOLLINGTON AYINLA CRITICALLY ILL, HOSPITALISED FOR DAYS. (PHOTO).

 Veteran Nigerian Musician, Kollington Ayinla Critically Ill, Hospitalised For Days

Veteran Nigerian Fuji musician, Alhaji Kolawole Rasaq Ilori, popularly known as Kollington Ayinla, is lying ill and has been hospitalised for days, SaharaReporters learnt from sources.

Reports from those close to the 75-year-old musician said that Ayinla had been ill for over a week. 

He was admitted to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Ikeja, the source said. 

SaharaReporters learnt that his condition had become critical and he had to be placed on oxygen.

However, the family has been keeping it close their chest. 

Efforts made by SaharaReporters to reach Kollington directly to find out the nature of his ailment failed as his mobile phone was switched off. 

His son, Sheriff Olori, popularly called Big Sheff asked our reporter to send him a text but he had yet to reply to the message at the time of filing this report. 

Kollington, born August 1949 hailed from Ilota, a town on the outskirts of Ilorin, Kwara State, and he is also known by the aliases; Baba Alatika, Kebe-n-Kwara, and Baba Alagbado.  

Kollington and his late friend and competitor, Ayinde Barrister dominated Fuji music scene for decades, helping to popularise the genre. 

Between the mid-1970s and late '80s, Kollington ranked with Barrister as the leading star of Nigerian Fuji music. 

As the popularity of Fuji grew, and the market became big and the enmity between Kollington and Barrister waned.

In 1983, both men stood side by side as mourners at the funeral of Apala star, Haruna Ishola. 

Barrister died at St. Mary's Hospital in London on December 16, 2010.